Apparatus and method for detecting internal impedance of a battery and a degree of battery degradation based on detected internal impedance

1. An internal impedance detecting apparatus for detecting an internal impedance of a secondary battery, comprising:

a voltage detector for detecting a voltage of said secondary battery;

a voltage change detector for detecting a change in the voltage within each of a plurality of detection times which have respective different time durations and include a common time, based on the voltage detected by said voltage detector;

a current detector for detecting a current flowing through said secondary battery;

a current change detector for detecting a change in the current within each of said detection times based on the current detected by said current detector;

a processor for calculating a plurality of internal impedances by dividing voltage changes detected by said voltage change detector by current changes detected by said current change detector at the same detection times as the voltage changes;

a judging unit for judging whether the internal impedances are reliable or not based on variations of the internal impedances calculated by said processor; and

a generator for generating an internal impedance to be output based on the internal impedances only if said judging unit judges that said internal impedances are reliable.

2. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said judging unit judges that said internal impedances are reliable if the difference between maximum and minimum values of the internal impedances calculated by said processor falls in a predetermined range, and judges that said internal impedances are not reliable if the difference between said maximum and minimum values falls out of said predetermined range.

3. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said processor calculates said internal impedances only if the current change detected by said current change detector is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

4. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said generator judges whether said internal impedance to be output falls in a predetermined range or not, and judges a malfunction based on the judged result.

5. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said secondary battery can be charged and discharged, further comprising:

an energization direction detector for detecting a direction of the current based on the current detected by said current detector;

wherein said generator generates the internal impedance to be output as a charging internal impedance or a discharging internal impedance depending on the direction of the current detected by said energization direction detector.

6. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said generator determines whether the direction of said current has changed in either one of the detection times or not, based on the direction of the current detected by said energization direction detector, and discards said internal impedance to be output if said generator judges that the direction of said current has changed in either one of said detection times.

7. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a temperature rate-of-change detector for detecting a rate of change of the temperature of said secondary battery; and

an SOC rate-of-change detector for detecting a rate of change of the SOC of said secondary battery;

wherein said generator comprises:

an internal impedance generator for generating said internal impedance to be output based on said internal impedances only if said judging unit judges that said internal impedances are reliable;

a storage unit for storing internal impedances to be output which have been generated in the past by said internal impedance generator;

a selector for selecting an internal impedance to be output in the past from said storage unit based on the rate of change of the temperature detected by said temperature rate-of-change detector or the rate of change of the SOC detected by said SOC rate-of-change detector; and

an average calculator for calculating an average of the internal impedance to be output in the past which has been selected by said selector and an internal impedance to be output which is newly generated by said internal impedance generator, and using the calculated result as a latest internal impedance to be output.

8. The internal impedance detecting apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein said selector selects an internal impedance to be output in the past such that a time duration, including a time at which the internal impedance to be output in the past used to calculate the average is detected, is longer as the rate of change of the temperature detected by said temperature rate-of-change detector or the rate of change of the SOC detected by said SOC rate-of-change detector is smaller.

9. A degradation degree detecting apparatus for detecting a degradation degree of a secondary battery, comprising:

an internal impedance detecting apparatus comprising a voltage detector for detecting a voltage of said secondary battery; a voltage change detector for detecting a change in the voltage within each of a plurality of detection times which have respective different time durations and include a common time, based on the voltage detected by said voltage detector; a current detector for detecting a current flowing through said secondary battery; a current change detector for detecting a change in the current within each of said detection times based on the current detected by said current detector; a processor for calculating a plurality of internal impedances by dividing voltage changes detected by said voltage change detector by current changes detected by said current change detector at the same detection times as the voltage changes; a judging unit for judging whether the internal impedances are reliable or not based on variations of the internal impedances calculated by said processor; and a generator for generating an internal impedance to be output based on the internal impedances only if said judging unit judges that said internal impedances are reliable;

a temperature detector for detecting the temperature of said secondary battery;

an SOC detector for detecting the SOC of said secondary battery;

a corrector for correcting the internal impedance to be output which has been generated by said internal impedance detecting apparatus, based on the temperature detected by said temperature detector and the SOC detected by said SOC detector; and

a degradation degree detector for detecting a degradation degree of said secondary battery based on the internal impedance to be output which has been corrected by said corrector.

10. A method of detecting an internal impedance of a secondary battery, comprising the steps of:

detecting a voltage of said secondary battery;

detecting a change in the voltage within each of a plurality of detection times which have respective different time durations and include a common time, based on the voltage detected in said step of detecting a voltage;

detecting a current flowing through said secondary battery;

detecting a change in the current within each of said detection times based on the current detected in said step of detecting a current;

calculating a plurality of internal impedances by dividing voltage changes detected in said step of detecting a change in the voltage by current changes detected in said step of detecting a change in the current at the same detection times as the voltage changes;

judging whether the internal impedances are reliable or not based on variations of the internal impedances calculated in said step of calculating a plurality of internal impedances; and generating an internal impedance to be output based on the internal impedances only if it is judged in said step of judging that said internal impedances are reliable.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said step of judging comprises the steps of judging that said internal impedances are reliable if the difference between maximum and minimum values of the internal impedances calculated in said step of calculating a plurality of internal impedances falls in a predetermined range, and judging that said internal impedances are not reliable if the difference between said maximum and minimum values falls out of said predetermined range.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said step of calculating a plurality of internal impedances comprises the step of calculating said internal impedances only if the current change detected in said step of detecting a change in the current is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said step of generating an internal impedance to be output comprises the steps of judging whether said internal impedance to be output falls in a predetermined range or not, and judging a malfunction based on the judged result.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said secondary battery can be charged and discharged, further comprising the step of:

detecting a direction of the current based on the current detected in said step of detecting a current;

wherein said step of generating an internal impedance to be output comprises the step of generating the internal impedance to be output as a charging internal impedance or a discharging internal impedance depending on the direction of the current detected in said step of detecting a direction of the current.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said step of generating an internal impedance to be output comprises the steps of determining whether the direction of said current has changed in either one of the detection times, based on the direction of the current detected in said step of detecting a direction of the current, and discarding said internal impedance to be output if it is judged that the direction of said current has changed in either one of said detection times.

16. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:

detecting a rate of change of the temperature of said secondary battery; and

detecting a rate of change of the SOC of said secondary battery;

wherein said step of generating an internal impedance to be output comprises the steps of:

generating said internal impedance to be output based on said internal impedances only if it is judged in said step of judging that said internal impedances are reliable;

storing, in a storage unit, internal impedances to be output which have been generated in the past in said step of generating said internal impedance;

selecting an internal impedance to be output in the past from said storage unit based on the rate of change of the temperature detected in said step of detecting a rate of change of the temperature or the rate of change of the SOC detected in said step of detecting a rate of change of the SOC; and

calculating an average of the internal impedance to be output in the past which has been selected in said step of selecting an internal impedance and an internal impedance to be output which is newly generated in said step of generating said internal impedance, and using the calculated result as a latest internal impedance to be output.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said step of selecting an internal impedance comprises the step of selecting an internal impedance to be output in the past such that a time duration, including a time at which the internal impedance to be output in the past used to calculate the average is detected, is longer as the rate of change of the temperature detected in said step of detecting a rate of change of the temperature or the rate of change of the SOC detected in said step of detecting a rate of change of the SOC is smaller.

18. A method of detecting a degradation degree of a secondary battery, comprising the steps of:

detecting a voltage of said secondary battery;

detecting a change in the voltage within each of a plurality of detection times which have respective different time durations and include a common time, based on the voltage detected in said step of detecting a voltage;

detecting a current flowing through said secondary battery;

detecting a change in the current within each of said detection times based on the current detected in said step of detecting a current;

calculating a plurality of internal impedances by dividing voltage changes detected in said step of detecting a change in the voltage by current changes detected in said step of detecting a change in the current at the same detection times as the voltage changes;

judging whether the internal impedances are reliable or not based on variations of the internal impedances calculated in said step of calculating a plurality of internal impedances;

generating an internal impedance to be output based on the internal impedances only if it is judged in said step of judging that said internal impedances are reliable;

detecting the temperature of said secondary battery;

detecting the SOC of said secondary battery;

correcting the internal impedance to be output, based on the temperature detected in said step of detecting the temperature and the SOC detected in said step of detecting the SOC; and

detecting a degradation degree of said secondary battery based on the internal impedance to be output which has been corrected in said step of correcting an internal impedance to be output.